Calendar Days!

I guess it's a good thing i'm going to school to be a teacher, because i love ALL things that have to do with kids and teaching! One of my favorite things that kids learn is about the days of the week, months in the year, and the weather. Probably because this includes holidays and i am a SUCKER for anything holiday-ish. I will decorate for just about ANY holiday.

So when George and I were strolling through Target last weekend i was SOOO excited to see these! And for $2.50 you couldn't go wrong! I got the month/day one, and the weather one.

Noah LOOVVEESS predicting the weather because since we've been having so many storms lately he's always asking about the rain, and where does it come from, and where does it go, ect.

And here is where it is living. In the loft/playroom that i currently under construction lol. It's actually almost done, i just need some storage and curtains and then i will give y'all a full post :)

**I have since moved this downstairs and hung it on my chalkboard wall that way i will remember to do the days and the weather with Noah.

I would love to eventually do one of these, but then i think people would start thinking i was crazy if i had this in my home haha

Here it is: My "Not So Proud" Mommy moment

Today while enjoying mine and Belle's nice morning jog something happened that lead me to behave in a not so quite motherly fashion. I am going to use anger as my excuse, although i don't even know if that's a good enough one. As Belle and i were coming to the end of the trail that we run on, there is a stop sign with a road coming out of a nearby neighborhood. At that stop sign is where Belle and i usually turn the stroller around and continue a mile and a half back home. Well today as i was approaching the end, i started to slow down to give myself room to turn the stroller.

It's then i notice them. A truck full of illegals (i say they are illegals because if you don't know me, i am from California, i KNOW what illegals look like). They immediately start smiling and whispering to each other. I've been around guys like this before, they disgust me. Now don't get me wrong, this isn't a post about how beautiful i must have looked and that's why they were starring, NO i JUST rolled out of bed, and for those of you who haven't been around men like this, MOST of them will gawk and stare at just about ANYTHING. They have NO shame and NO class, and certainly NO embarrassment.

I immediately get my, "i'm going to kill you" face on, and my heart starts racing as i grow impatient and pissed off. Now i'm down to a walk and there they are sitting at the stop sign just watching away. Most would think, well you should have just turned around right then and there, and i considered it, BUT i had on some running shorts and didn't want to give them the satisfaction of seeing my dimply thighs.

So as i come up to the end and start to turn around, it's then they ROLL DOWN their windows and start opening their mouths being COMPLETELY dirty, disrespectful perverts. Around this same time one in the backseat waves for me to come to the window, and that's when i lost it. Not only did i scream NO and then the F bomb about 17 different times. I also called them every SOB name in the book, AND let go of the jogging stroller long enough to give them the bird. They looked kinda shocked and drove off while the one in the backseat kinda chuckled and looked away.

I was SHAKING i was SOOO mad!!!!! Here i am a mother for crying out loud, i'm sure they can see everything else on me BUT my wedding rings, so i wont even say that they should know i'm married. But i was out trying to enjoy a nice day with my DAUGHTER! I know my behavior was not appropriate, BUT i dont want Belle growing up seeing men act like that and think it is ok! She needs to know that she is NOT a piece of meat for some man to cat call and gawk at! So with that said, there you have it. One of my many, "Not so proud" mommy moments.

And just for giggles, here is me and Belle after our run trying to give you our best, "i will kick your ass" face. Belle needs to work on hers. I'm really thinking George Merritt is rubbing off on me.



And if any of this offends you, kiss my ass. I'm on a roll today.

Wordless Wednesday

I've seen so many blogs do this, and thought i would join in. Here is mine for today: baby puffs anyone???

Let there be light!

Our Master bedroom has SLOWLY been transforming over the past 6 months and i'm sad to say that i scored some nightstands at the Goodwill about 4 months ago. I had been looking for some new ones because i had an idea in my mind i couldn't get out. I wanted nightstands with more character and detail. Ours were SO boring that we had, leave it to good ol Ashley Home Furniture Store. Not that there is anything wrong with that store, it's just so.....boring. So i was eager to get our nightstands out of our bedroom and replace them with some lovely gems.

Well when i brought them home, George did NOT like them. Eventually his dislike with them caused me to leave them abandoned and alone in the garage. He convinced me to keep the nightstands we had in our room because they "matched" (i hate this word) our headboard. He said i should put the old, new ones i bought in the guestroom. I thought this was a pretty good idea. I figured since they would be going into the guestroom i should do something REALLY fun and funky with them.

For weeks i scrolled through Pinterest and blogs trying to decide what color i should paint them. I initially wanted to paint them white when they were heading into our room, but then I decided it would be a toss up between red and yellow for the guestroom. THEN, i saw THIS (cue music). It was everything i had been trying to explain in my mind! It had the same old detail my nightstands had, and i just KNEW i had to try it. I decided that if i absolutely loved it, i would put them in our room and we would decide from there if we liked them or not. If not, they would still look lovely in our guestroom!

Here is the wretched BEFORE

Primed and only had a few coats of paint here. (I used spray paint for this project and it was AMAZING how easy it was)

Here she is, Miss America. I literally couldnt get them into our room fast enough. And i used paint tape to do the stencil on top.

Ok, now here is the winning question......do you like it with the old brown nightstands????

OR with the new "lighter" ones!? I personally LOOOVVEE the lighter ones. YES, i still have to print out our family pics for those frames, and please dont mind the mess. Also, almost all our pillows are on the guestroom bed, we're not pillow people, but after looking at this pic i think we need some for decor.

George absolutely LOOVVEESS these new nightstands, and he told me for about 3 days straight how proud he was of me for doing them. I took this project on all on my own and did not ask his opinion once. After all, he is a straight version of David Bromstad so i try to get his advice on color as much as possible. NOW, i need to tackle my desk. Just wait till you see what i have in store for this :)

Who would have thought?

Never in a million years did i think that i would learn to sew. i credit Belle to my reason for even trying. If it wasn't for me having an adorable little girl, i dont think i would have ever went out, bought a sewing machine, and taught myself to sew. I am a beginner and teaching myself slowly as i go, learning mostly from asking questions, and mostly from the internet. I've been trying so many fun little projects and i feel SO proud when i complete something that i never thought i could.

My biggest reason for learning to sew was to make Belle cute dresses. I've been slowly collecting fabric, but now i'm realizing how time consuming sewing is! I made this dress almost 2 weeks ago, and since then i have been working on some baby things for some of my pregnant friends. Although i have cut out a few more dresses for Belle, i havent sewed them up. Will post pics when i finally do.

I also made this headband a few months ago to go with another outfit, but i was happy to see it went with this one as well. Pink is such a versatile color :)

This dress is a pattern that a sweet classmate of mine gave me. She gave me some cute little girl patterns, but i've only been comfortable with 2 so far. Hopefully i will venture off to try some of the other ones.

I was so proud of this dress because i added the ruffle on the bottom. It was my first time ever dewing a ruffle to the bottom of a dress.

I have one of the prettiest little models :)

Fireworks!

We have had such a nice weekend relaxing, and staying indoors since it's been almost 100 degrees out everyday. Noah is at the perfect age to do so many projects with, and he just understand so much more about holidays and upcoming events the older he gets. He is excited about going to my parents in a week, and i thought some 4th of July activities might get him in the mood for what we're going there for!

Since he is only 3 i try to keep it simple, and he has a short attention span so i have to make things fun and interesting. After many failed attempts of explaining what fireworks were to him, i took to Youtube to show him exactly what i was talking about. What better to show him, than a video of New Year's Eve, right? He was ECSTATIC! Especially the part when i told him we're going to Mimi and Papa's to see fireworks. So now that he understood what they are, i asked him if he wanted to paint some himself. Noah LOOOVVEESS to paint. And i generally let him do it alot. I feel like kids learn the best when you trust them and let them do things on their own. I try not to hover, unless i'm taking pics of course, and there really isnt anything i don't let Noah try or do on his own.

So here is our first 4th of July craft. I saw one of my friends on Facebook do this with her son, so i copied. Noah had so much fun and when George got home Saturday he ran to tell him that Noah made fireworks today. You can imagine George's face.

Here is a printable i put up on our chalkboard wall, because after all Noah HAS to know that fireworks starts with the letter F. Source HERE

All set up! I got this children's fold up card table at the Goodwill a few weeks back for $10. It was in perfect condition and i absolutely love it. Their wooden pottery barn kids stays upstairs, but this one is perfect for downstairs and doing crafts with Mom.

First hand in the blue!

This is serious business!

So far so good!

Washing the blue off!

Now it's time for red!

So cute when he washes his hands.

And Noah is done! I think his fireworks came out so cute.

Kid free zone.....hopefully

I have been waiting to start on our Master bedroom since the day we moved in. As most of you know, we bought our first house almost 2 years ago and i have been ecstatic to make it into a REAL home. I held back at first, gathering as much inspiration as possible before i took the leap. My first projects were all geared around the kids rooms, and they are pretty much done except for a few little things i still want to add. A cornice for Noah's room, and a rug for Belle's, other than that, DUNZO. But for some reason, children's spaces are SOO easy for me to design in my head. I LOVE kids rooms and play spaces, but a space of our own, i had no idea where to begin.

So our room has sat this whole time, an empty space collecting dust. We literally ONLY had a bed. And not even a bed, a mattress and bed frame. Then i collected this cute desk one day from a fun craigslist buy, more on that later.



I thought i would want a little space in our room to call my own. To study and blog and all that jazz. A Carrie Bradshaw place to think. Well i never used it. And now my desk sits at the back of our room with all my sewing crap on it. So it is getting the boot to our guestroom because i have FINALLY started to feel what i want our room to become. First step was getting a bigger bed. We traded in our old queen (not hardly old, only 4 years old) for a king. We did this before Belle was born so that was easy peasy. Then i bounced back and forth on what type of bed i wanted. A canopy bed, poster bed, fabric headboard, wood headboard, sleigh bed, ect. What i knew for sure was i wanted it to be old. Although i am sometimes drawn to more modern designs, i find old beds or older looking headboards cozy. And that's what i want our room to be.....cozy.

So one day i LITERALLY fell upon this beautiful wooden headboard. For $29 i almost slapped the worker at Goodwill. It was MINE! So now that the headboard is up, i felt like i should hang the curtains that i bought a year ago. With those curtains i also bought these frames from the same Ikea trip. I saved these frames because i knew when Belle was born we would have some nice family pics taken. I want one picture of the two kids, and one picture of George and I to go in them above our bed. So with the frames hung, the curtains hung, and a new headboard, our room is slowly evolving. Here are some pics where it is right now. I just recently re-did some nightstands which look AMAZING by the way and that is going to be a future post :)



Used painter's tape to make sure i got both frames centered.



Once i got the center of the wall, i measured one inch on either side and that's where the edge of each frame would go.



And here they are hung! I just received our family pics yesterday so i am eager to get them printed and in their frames. Don't mind the mess, i said i was working on our room, i didnt say it was perfect.



Here is the rest of inspiration i am feeling for this room:





SOURCE HERE

Of course i will put my own spin on the projects i am looking into. My dream is for George and i to have a space AWAY from the kids. AWAY from toys and loud noises. I have been ANTI tv in our bedroom for awhile now, but i think we might have to bring one in, one that DOES NOT play cartoons. All these are dreams you see, because within this last week, Noah has entered the "scared" phase. So thank God for that King size bed, Noah is becoming more and more a permanent guest.